يا من رأى عارضا يصوب دما — Ibn Nabata Al Saadi

يا مَنْ رأى عارضاً يَصوبُ دَماً

منبعقَ الودْقِ يَنْبُتُ اللِمَمَا

O you who have seen a cloud pouring blood,

its rain bursting forth, making locks of hair spring up!

مر على لابني شَمَارمَ فال

ما هينَ يُزجي البأساءَ والنِّعَمَا

It passed over Lābnī Shamārim, then

Māhayn, bringing adversity and blessings.

يعترضُ الأكمَ والوهادَ ومن

يَسلَمُ من وقعِهِ فقد سَلِمَا

It sweeps across hills and hollows; whoever

escapes its impact has truly escaped.

يَقبِضُهُ تارً ويَبْسُطُهُ

ساعٍ تَحَدَّى بسعيهِ الأُمَمَا

Now he gathers it in, now spreads it out—

a striver whose striving challenged the nations.

هَمَّانِ راضَا شِماسَ مُعْتَزمٍ

للهِ هَمَّانِ ما هُما فَهمَا

Two ambitions have tamed a resolute man's restiveness;

by God, two ambitions—what a pair they are!

همٌّ بذاتِ الهِضَابِ ما تركتْ

سورتُه قَارَةً ولا عَلَمَا

One ambition at Dhāt al-Hiḍāb: its fury left

neither rocky hill nor landmark peak

اِلاَّ كَسَتْهُ الجيادَ تخبِطه

خَبطاً تُشطي أديمه زيمَا

without clothing it in steeds that trample it,

their trampling tearing its hide into scattered strips.

من كلِّ طاوي المصير تحسِبُه

يضمر من طيّ كشحِه ألمَا

Each steed is lean-gutted, so that you would think

it concealed pain within its drawn-in flank.

وآخرُ بالعِراقِ يحرُبُ من

يطلُب كالنارِ تأكلُ الفَحَمَا

And another in Iraq despoils whomever

it pursues, like fire consuming charcoal.

من ذا يرد القضاءَ والقَدرَ ال

مقدورَ عن حتمه اذا حُتِمَا

Who can turn back judgment and fate,

foreordained, from its inevitability once it is sealed?

بل ليتَ شِعري ماذا يحاولُ فخ

رُ الملكِ بالصَّيلَمِ التي كتمَا

Yet would that I knew what is intended by

Fakhr al-Mulk with the crushing calamity he has concealed.

سَوَّمَ بالدينِ جَحْفلاً لجباً

كالليلِ يُعمي ويُبرِيء الصَّمَمَا

He marked with the faith a clamorous army,

like night, blinding, yet curing deafness.

تركتُ تيارَ موجهِ بَعْضُهُ

بَعْضاً ويعلو الحِدَابَ والاكمَا

I left the torrent of its waves, one upon

another, rising over ridges and hills,

اِما مغيراً موانعاً لُجَّةَ الن

نيل واما الخليجَ مقتحمَا

either raiding the barriers of the deep

Nile, or plunging into the gulf.

نهيتُ كعباً عن غيها فَعَصَتْ

معصيةُ النصحِ يُورِثُ النَّدمَا

I forbade Kaʿb its waywardness, but it disobeyed;

rejecting counsel begets regret.

يا كعبُ كعبَ الكعوبِ مألُكةً

تَرعى دنو الانسابِ والذِّمَمَا

O Kaʿb, Kaʿb of all the Kaʿbs—a message

honoring the closeness of kinship and solemn bonds:

قَدَيتَ من حبها على قَلَتٍ

وطارقُ الهمِ يبعثُ الهِمَمَا

You have ventured, through love of her, to the brink of ruin;

and care's night visitor rouses high resolves.

زاركَ بالبِيضِ والقنا كلِفٌ

يعشقُ منها البياضَ والشَّمَمَا

One enamored visited you with bright swords and lances,

loving their whiteness and lofty pride.

انَّ عقيلاً في السير انْ حُدِيَتْ

نَزَتْ فلم تمشِ مشيةً أَمَمَا

Indeed, when ʿUqayl is urged onward in the march,

she bounds and never walks a measured pace.

طامِنْ لها الصَّاد من نواظرِها

واكبحْ لها من شَكِيمِهَا الحكَمَا

Lower the haughtiness of her eyes,

and rein her in by the bits of her bridle,

حتّى اذا لدها اللدودُ فلم

يتركْ بها طَائِفاً ولا لممَا

until the mouth-poured medicine has dosed her and

left in her neither a haunting fit nor madness,

وراجعتها الأَحلامُ واتخذتْ

من الحُبى في ظهورِها حُزمَا

and reason has returned to her, and she has made

her sitting-wraps firm bands around her back;

فاعطفْ لها عطفةَ الظؤور من ال

جور على بِكرِها اذا رأَمَا

then turn to her as the fond nursing camel turns from

harshness toward her firstborn when tenderness stirs.

قومٌ اذا خاصمَ الخصيمُ بهم

في كل حقٍّ وباطلٍ خَصَمَا

A people whose opponent, whenever he disputes with them,

prevails in every cause, right or wrong.

تناولوا من أبيهم القَدَّ لا

الحَدَّ وحسنَ الوجوهِ لا الشِّيَمَا

They inherited their father's stature, not

his sharpness; handsome faces, not noble traits.

فأَينَ عنها ذَوو المحيلةِ في الر

روعِ اذا راعفُ القَنا رَذمَا

Where, then, are her men of stratagem in

battle's terror, when blood gushes from the lances?

أَينَ بنو الاحوصِ الجعارُ وأَي

ن والزرقُ عن عَرشِها الذي انهدَمَا

Where are Banū al-Aḥwaṣ al-Jaʿār, and where

are al-Zurq, with her throne fallen in ruins?

لو شهدتها الضبابُ أَو رهطُ جوْ

وَابٍ لما كان نصرُها حُلُمَا

Had al-Ḍibāb been there, or the people of

Jawwāb, her deliverance would not have been a dream.

لكن تميمٌ وفتْ لسيدِها

واقتحمتْ من أَمامه القُحمَا

But Tamīm kept faith with its lord

and plunged into perils before him,

بالسمهرياتِ يرتعدنَ من ال

غيظِ على كل عارمٍ عَرَمَا

with Samharī lances trembling with

rage against every rebel running wild.

نِعْمَ مناخُ القِرَى لمختبطٍ

وبائسٍ ليس يَعدمُ العدمَا

How fine a halting-place of hospitality for a petitioner

and a wretch who never lacks destitution!

وهي الى يومِ حاجبٍ رَقَدَتْ

واستودعتْ رهنَ تُرسه العَجمَا

And until Ḥājib's day she lay asleep,

and entrusted the pledge of his shield to the Persians.

لا عدمتكَ الاعرابُ ما صلحت

أَو فسدت مُحسِناً ومنتقِمَا

May the Bedouin never lose you, whether upright

or corrupt—you their benefactor and avenger.

خُذْهَا كشمسِ النهارِ باهِرةً

تُهدي اليك الأمثالَ والحِكمَا

Take it, dazzling as the daytime sun,

bringing you proverbs and wisdom.

تَرى الحَسُودَ الذي يعاندها

ينشدها راضياً وان رغمَا

You see the envious man who opposes it

reciting it approvingly, though against his will.

وكلُّ قولٍ يروقُ رائقهُ

يصغُر في جبنها وانْ عظمَا

Every saying whose finest part delights

shrinks beside it, however great.

ليتَ الوزيرَ الأعزَّ كانَ لها

سمعاً سميعاً وناظراً وفمَا

Would that the most honored vizier were to it

a listening ear, an eye, and a mouth.

ان قُلد الدر من قلائدِها

فانما عقدُها له نُظمَا

If he is adorned with pearls from its necklaces,

its strand was strung for him alone.

وأجدر الناسِ ان يُراحَ لها

غصنٌ من المجدِ في ذُراك نمَا

The one most worthy of being gladdened by it

is a branch of glory grown in your lofty shelter.

رأيتُ فيه الذي أَبوكَ رأى

فيكَ على وعدِه وما ظَلَمَا

I saw in him what your father saw

in you, true to his promise—and he judged not wrongly.

حتى استهلَّتْ به قوابلهُ

حُكِّمَ في المكرماتِ فاحتكمَا

Even as his midwives cried out at his birth,

he was made arbiter of noble deeds and passed judgment.

فهو ضنينٌ ببدرها لهجٌ

لم يروَ من دَرِها ولا فُطِمَا

He jealously guards their full moon, devoted to it;

he has not drunk his fill of their milk, nor been weaned.

يا ابنَ الذي لم يدعْ لمفتَخِرٍ

فخراً وأَفنتْ أوصافُه الكلِمَا

O son of the man who left no boaster

any glory, whose qualities exhausted words!

أَبوكَ في ليلةِ البياتِ بشَا

بِرْخَاسَ سامى نجومَها فَسَمَا

Your father, on the night of the surprise attack

at Shābirkhās, rivaled its stars and rose above them.

صادَمَ فيها مستبسلينَ يرونَ

الموتَ في حومةِ الوغى كرمَا

There he clashed with fearless warriors who deemed

death in battle's thick a noble deed.

كأنما هَجْهَجُوا برؤيتهِ

ليثاً بخفان يسكن الاكمَا

It was as though, on seeing him, they had goaded

a lion of Khaffān, dwelling among the hills.

ان فر لم يتبعْ وكيدته

والموتُ في كرهِ اذا انهزمَا

If it fled, none pursued it; its cunning

and death lay in its return-charge after retreat.

صُبارماً كالمِجَنِّ جبهتُه

انْ يُعَقِّرُ بظفره عزمَا

A fierce lion, its forehead like a shield,

when it maims resolve with its claw.

طارقْ طريقاً الى العدى لَقَماً

يستخدم السيفَ فيه والقَلَمَا

Beat out a broad road to the enemy,

where both sword and pen are put to work.

وسرْ مسيرَ الصباحِ في غبشِ

الليلِ يُجَلّي بنوره الظلمَا

And travel as morning travels through the murk

of night, dispelling darkness with its light.

لا كانَ هذا الوداع منكَ قلىً

ولا استعضنا من فقدك الديمَا

May this farewell not spring from your aversion,

nor may we take steady rains in exchange for losing you.

فانها بالمياهِ ما طرةٌ

وجود كفيكَ يمطر النِّعمَا

For they shower water,

while your hands' generosity showers blessings.